Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday refused to apologize for describing Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) as “a fatter version of [Kaohsiung Mayor] Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜),” saying that “fat” and “thin” are mere adjectives to surgeons like himself.
Ko, who was a surgeon for 30 years before being elected mayor in 2014, made the comparison when responding to media queries by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), who wrote on Facebook: “Ko Wen-je is a Han Kuo-yu who did better in exams.”
Later in the day, when asked by reporters whether he would apologize for his remarks concerning Chen, Ko said: “No.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“If [I was wrong for] saying Chen Chu is a fatter Han, the other way around would be to say that Han is a thinner Chen. Would that be all right?” Ko said.
Words such as “fat” and “thin” are mere adjectives describing a condition, he said, adding that if the word “fat” is forbidden then it should be removed from the dictionary.
The point of the discussion is that “Han Kuo-yu” has become a label and an adjective, Ko said, adding that Taiwanese society often fixates on one word that someone says and then labels it “speech crime” of sorts.
“I hate it,” Ko said.
When asked why in November last year he considered Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) remark that Chen was “a fat sow” harmful to the KMT, Ko said the way in which Wu formed his speech spelled trouble.
Asked whether his description of Chen constituted body shaming, Ko said that was not what he had in mind.
Asked whether Tuan’s faction should apologize to Han, Ko said that Tuan should swallow a couple of hockey pucks first.
Ko was referring to two incidents, the first being Tuan’s dare before the Changhua County commissioner election in 2014 that if then-candidate Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) had not embezzled funds from the Ministry of Education during his time as Republic of China Hockey Association chairman, he would swallow three hockey pucks.
The second was Tuan’s accusation that Han forced up produce prices in 2016 during his stint as Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co general manager, to which Han responded that if Tuan’s claims were true, he would swallow a stack of hockey pucks, and that Tuan needed to just swallow one if his claims were proven false.
Later yesterday, Han responded with laughter when asked by reporters about Ko’s remarks concerning Chen.
Yet, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) slammed Ko, saying on Facebook that he is a “crasser Han Kuo-yu.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called for rationality and discretion, saying that people should not make discriminatory remarks and set a negative example as competition before next year’s presidential election intensifies.
Meanwhile, Ko yesterday denied having breached the privacy of top Taiwanese model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲).
Ko in a recent media interview said that Lin is pregnant.
He yesterday said he read about the rumor on the Internet, adding that no physicians at National Taiwan University Hospital — where he served as a physician before becoming Taipei mayor — had disclosed any such information to him.
“I will apologize if there is a need to,” Ko said.
The hospital yesterday said it would not comment on the matter.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-yu, Hsu Kuo-chen and Wu Liang-yi
Two executives of drone supplier Jiin Ming Industry Co (錦明實業) have been detained and held incommunicado over the company's alleged use of prohibited China-made chips and camera lenses in drones supplied under recent military contracts, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors' Office said today. In a statement, prosecutors said they raided the offices of Jiin Ming — headquartered in Taoyuan — as well as those of its subsidiaries and its suppliers on Thursday last week. The raids followed a report that the company had breached its procurement contracts by putting the prohibited components into drones delivered to the military. During the raids, prosecutors summoned
The government would continue monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China and could enhance existing quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said rumors were circulating that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease from spreading to Taiwan, given the frequent exchanges between Taiwan and China, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive Yuan
South Korean boy band BigBang drew 120,000 fans to three concerts at Taipei Dome from Friday through yesterday, as the band thanked them for their support over their 20-year career. The Taipei Dome concerts were part of BigBang's "2026-2027 World Tour XX: Cosmos." Friday's concert was BigBang's first performance in Taiwan in 11 years. During the encore, group leader G-Dragon (GD) shouted "I love you" in Chinese and said he was especially happy to perform in Taiwan with bandmates Taeyang and Daesung. "Taipei, I'm very grateful to you all," GD said in Chinese, asking fans to wait for the band's return. Daesung thanked
A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier group was being monitored after entering the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense said today, after Beijing yesterday criticized Taiwan for using a water cannon against a Chinese fishing boat near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). A Chinese naval task group led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning (遼寧) yesterday sailed to the western Pacific for training, Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the PLA Navy as saying. “The drill is part of the annual routine training plan aimed at testing and improving the troops’ combat readiness and enhancing their ability to
RSS